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What not to see! - Jan. 28, 2008 8:17 am - Show/hide this post I’m not a movie reviewer in any sense of the word but the piece of crap I saw Sunday was so bad I can’t let it go by without telling you what a total waste of time and effort it was. Descriptions on line of “Untraceable”, Diane Lane’s newest movie made it sound as if it might be another take on the cyber drama like “War Games”. As it turned out whatever suspense that might have provided was dispensed with in the first 30 minutes of this 2 hour disaster of a film. If you like gory disgusting perverted death scenes and a predictable plot then this is the film for you. If you feel you absolutely must see it, please, save yourself a few bucks and wait for it to come out on DVD. The wait shouldn’t be very long I think, maybe 20 minutes max.   The highlight of the afternoon was the popcorn. That should tell you something. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Re-enactment pictures - Dec. 12, 2007 3:58 pm - Show/hide this post If you missed the re-enactment activities last weekend you can still see the images if not hear the sounds. A new slide show by Master Photographer Stephen Gillian is now posted on our web site at http://www.FredericksburgLightworks.com. Take a look, you can almost smell the black powder. Reprints of the pictures are available. Follow the e-mail directions at the bottom of the homepage for more info. Full disclosure: I am half owner of the above website. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Zero tolerance - Dec. 3, 2007 1:05 pm - Show/hide this post I read William Frawley’s piece in the Post this morning with great interest. There were numerous comments from readers about the article and Mr. Frawley. What strikes me about these comments was the profound unkindness that I saw evidenced by many of the responders. Much of what I read was piling on and dancing on the grave of the worst sort. Surely there are ways to respond to his piece without resorting to ad hominem attacks. Zero tolerance is one thing but blatant unkindness is quite another. The man has lost a lot or more accurately thrown away a lot and his life will likely never be the same. Can we not let him contemplate and deal with the consequences of his bad decisions with some care and understanding? We don’t have to affirm his behavior or actions but are we not obligated to understand the sense of loss that he must be dealing with? ( 1 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

Water park!!! - Nov. 30, 2007 12:31 pm - Show/hide this post The letters and commentary regarding Kalahari’s water park project continue with arguments seeming mostly to be against the park but for what real reasons I cannot see. The three main points that keep coming up are: 1.       Increased Traffic 2.       Water usage 3.       Jobs       I suppose there will be some traffic increase but I’m having a hard time seeing this problem being of the scope that the naysayers claim it will be. The critical time at the Route 3 and Central Park bottle neck seems mostly to be at evening rush hour and I just can’t imagine that any significant number of tourists are going to be jumping in their cars just at that time to cruise around especially since Central Park is chock full of restaurants, stores and other draws for the money we are counting on them to spend.  The water park, if anything will work to keep the hotel guests closer to where they are staying I would think. The furor over the water usage seems to be a false premise for objection  as well. It’s not as if the park will refill its facility on a daily basis. I missed the information session on the park the other night and I do wonder if there was any clarification offered on this topic. How much water will need to be replaced on a daily basis? Won’t the biggest part of it be recycled and kept in more or less continuous use?  Coming on the heels of a drought such as we experienced this year, water supply is a pretty easy pot shot to take but is it a real problem or is it more akin to Chicken Little sounding the alarm about a falling sky? The quality of the new jobs is a much more real problem and this project is just one more brick in the load of service industry non-living wage jobs that burdens our local economy. As long as we cannot attract quality business enterprises here that will keep talented young people from heading up 95 for work in living wage jobs we will continue to fool ourselves and pat ourselves on the back without reason whenever a few hundred more jobs of this quality are created. Maybe there are valid objections to this project. If there are let’s hear them. Folks, we knew something would be built there sooner or later so where’s the surprise? Let’s face the reality that the golf course and the silos are gone for good. Every occupancy the Silver companies put in place on that land will add new revenue to the city's budget and keep the cost of city services from running up your real estate tax bill. Heck, they might even help fund the riverfront development project. Of course then we'll have to sit around and bitch and moan about the pedestrian congestion along the walkways by the river. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Already? - Oct. 31, 2007 11:58 am - Show/hide this post Just noticed on Monday night while enjoying my evening cuppa at Hyperion that the Christmas weaths are already up on the light poles downtown. Remember when we thought that putting decorations up before Thanksgiving was rushing it? Mentioned that here in the office this morning and the comment was "Well, the decorations are up at WalMart." So now the city is trying to keep up with Walmart? ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

I-phone price cut! - Sep. 6, 2007 11:41 am - Show/hide this post Interesting item on cnn.com this morning to the effect that Apple has cut the price on the 8 gig I-phone from $599 to $399. Some early buyers are complaining that they paid too much and Apple has even offered full refunds if the phone was purchased in the last 14 days and is returned un-opened and refunds of the price difference if it has been opened. Is anyone surprised that a much hyped product is offered for sale first at one price and at a reduced price a while later? Please! Oh, wait! Maybe I can find some film footage on YouTube of someone holding a gun to theses buyers' heads forcing them to buy when they did. When I bought my first digital camera, I think the price dropped about 40% before I got back to my car. Maybe I should have gone back into Best Buy and whined a while about that. See the full CNN story here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/09/06/apple.price.cut.ap/index.html ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Total Lunar Eclipse Early Tomorrow Morning - Aug. 27, 2007 11:56 am - Show/hide this post It's tomorrow morning and there won't be another total eclipse of the moon visible from here until February of next year. Visibility will of course depend on cloud cover but if the weather cooperates it should be a great experience if you can get up a bit early to see it. The less ambient light around you the better but with something as large in the sky as a full moon it won't be nearly as difficult to make out from your home as the Perseid meteor showers were a couple of weeks ago. See the NASA graphic and NASA visibility path maps at the following link. Scroll down for the visibility path map. http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2007Aug28/TLE2007Aug28.html   ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Worth adding to your calendar... - Aug. 23, 2007 3:54 pm - Show/hide this post ...next Friday (8/7/2007) the theater will once again come alive at the library downtown. Stagedoor Productions will open their 3 weekend run of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" Curtain time is 8 and regular tickets run $10. It's $7.00 for students and seniors. This drama company has built an excellent reputation over the years for staging top notch productions under the steady hand of Executive Director Kim Kemp. I've see a couple of their shows and and am sorry I have not seen more. Folks, it's all local talent...no hired guns from out of town. With the multitude of activities this area boasts it can be a tough choice as to how to spend your time. I think this will prove to be a good choice. If you missed last weekend's Discovery Days events down by the City Dock, you missed a lot. With Indian and explorer reenactors, Indian dancing and drumming demonstartions and our own excellent hometown pops orchestra there was a little something for everyone or so it seemed to me. And it was all free! Stop by the museum downtown and thank them for supporting such an outstanding event. There are some pictures of that event on line at http://www.fredericksburglightworks.com and according to the site there are more to come. Check it out. I have and the photos are great. My particular favorite is the one with a service man of today in his beret and BDUs flanked by two Indian warriors.   ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Fredericksburg Fire Department - July 27, 2007 9:55 am - Show/hide this post Just the best at what they do! When I returned home to my apartment at Stratford Square Apartments last Sunday night, this is what greeted me: My apartment building was on fire, seriously on fire. This picture is of the top of the building on the end closest to Route 1. There were firetrucks and firefighters everywhere or so it seemed including units from Stafford and Spotsylvania counties going about their business of saving lives and property in a fashion that minimized damage in what could have been a much more serious incident. Chief Eddie Allen and his most professional organization did an outstanding job that night as I am sure they do on all their calls. I appreciated this one in particular of course because my home was threatened as it's in the same building that was on fire.  The damage was contained so quickly, I didn't even have to sleep elsewhere that night. There was absolutely no damage to my place at all and no smoke smell in my apartment. The next time you see news coverage of city or county budget issues, contact your representative and encourage them to pay particular attention to the needs of the fire department. The next time it could be your home that's saved. As for me, a big fat thank you to the Fredericksburg Fire Department for a fast response and fine job. And a special thanks as well to the owner of Stratford Square for their care for all the residents of my building who were displaced by the fire. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Downtown noise! - June 20, 2007 12:57 pm - Show/hide this post Well, it looks as if Fredericksburg is finally doing something  about the noise problem downtown. They announced in Saturday’s paper that noise violation checkpointss would be set up downtown this week. Hopefully some enterprising reporter from this organization will pursue the issue and find out from the city how many citations were issued. I don’t want to get crossways with all my friends that ride motorcycles but it’s about time. The constant revving of engines at the intersection of Princess Anne and William streets is out of hand and something should have been done about that a long time ago. The same thing goes for the window throbbing noise from passing cars with their stereos cranked up. You can bet your bottom dollar that in Olde Towne Alexandria, the Monument Avenue area of Richmond, and in the cities of Charleston and Savannah they don’t put up with that nonsense day in and day out. Yet every time I have mentioned it to a city council member I get the same feeble story that the judges won’t enforce it even if the police write the citations. If the judges won’t enforce it then pass an ordinance that the judges will enforce. If we have the will to spend $100,000 for  Robo-Chalker to facilitate parking so people will come downtown to do business, we can surely do something to moderate the painful noise levels downtown from motorcycles and loud car stereos. The noise makers may be inconsiderate show-offs but the aren't stupid. Write a few tickets and we'll hear fewer bikes with straight or otherwise modified pipes and fewer obscene lyrics from loud rap music on the street. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Great music this weekend downtown - June 11, 2007 12:17 pm - Show/hide this post I was sitting in front of Hyperion Sunday afternoon at what I consider to be the most interesting corner in town and I could hear music coming from the square across the street behind the museum. From where I was it was pretty non-descript at first but after a while I could hear the beat pick up and I couldn’t resist any longer. I wandered over to discover what turned out to be a wonderful show being performed by the U.S. Navy band’s vocal group, The Sea Chanters. From doo-wop to show tunes their arrangements and performance backed by keyboard, base and drums was totally engaging and greatly appreciated by a too small crowd that did not let them get away without a standing ovation and a really upbeat encore. Somehow I had missed the publicity on this terrific event and others may have missed it as well, accounting perhaps for why the crowd seemed smaller than this energetic and highly polished performance deserved. Word of advice to the museum folks, get them back when you can and do everything you can to pass the word on. I missed it once and was fortunate to stumble across it. I won’t miss it again. I’ve got the website address where their schedule is published and I’ll be following it for future performances including those nearby. The address for their performance schedule is http://www.navyband.navy.mil/seachanters.shtml. Look for postings about future appearances on The Fredericksblog. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Further on the Paris flap - June 7, 2007 12:09 pm - Show/hide this post OK, so it's not really a flap just yet but it will be...you can bet your last money on that. Comedy writers across the country are drooling and rubbing their hands in glee at the possibilities that this one creates. According to an item at www.tmz.com Miss Hilton has not been actually released, she has merely been reassigned along with an ankle bracelet to that hell hole of a home of hers in West Hollywood where she will do hard time for the next 40 days. I wonder if those ankle bracelets are water-proof or will she have to give up her pool time as well?  I was mistaken in my math though. They say she did 5 days of her sentence which means she served 11% of her sentence in the slammer. The rest apparently will be done at home. The reported reason for this "transfer" is medical. They are saying that poor Paris would not eat the jail food leading I must conclude to a concern for her health. If that's the case then they better start buying boxcar loads of bracelets to fit out the rest of this country's inmates who will surely take this as a sign of a way out from behind the bars. Do you want to bet some money on their chances of getting a transfer to home with an ankle bracelet as a lovely parting gift? It was interesting to note at the end of the story on www.tmz.com that by noon eastern time there have already been nearly 1000 comments on the story. Would it surprise you to know that most comments are unsympathetic and highly critical of this development? Now, if the judge who imposed the sentence would only hold the law enforcement guys who did this in "contempt of court". Since when can law enforcement types like sheriffs over ride a judges sentence? ( 1 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

Free at last, free at last! - June 7, 2007 10:13 am - Show/hide this post Stop the presses! According to a CNN news alert I just got, Paris Hilton is out of jail after serving 3 days of what was originally a 45 day sentence for her life threatening highway shenanigans...less than 1% of the sentence.  Is it just me or if this report is accurate, is there something wrong with this picture? Maybe they should have given her community service as an alternative sentence. Eight hours ought to be just about equivalent to the time she was in slam. She could have worked on a housing project for down on their luck debutantes. Surely that would have resonated with her! ( 1 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

Frederick's - June 1, 2007 8:22 am - Show/hide this post Who would think of spending a weekend evening watching a chef cook as a fun thing to do. As I say in my little "about" blurb with this blog, I'm an irregular sort of guy and that's exactly what I did last Saturday at Frederick's on Princess Anne Street. A few weeks ago I asked Chef Frederick Heller if I might come in one night and watch him cook. He must have been puzzled by my off the wall request but he graciously agreed to the idea. We finally put it together last Saturday and I trundled myself in about 5:30. For the next two hours I stood and watched the magic that happens behind the scenes in a top notch restaurant when a master chef is at work. The skill and grace of the oft repeated culinary ballet that goes on behind his stove and grill was fascinating to watch for an amateur foodie such as me. I was fortunate that some of his customers were placing orders for dishes that included some fairly complex sauces, all of which were prepared to order as opposed to having been done ahead of time. The blend of seasonings made each new sauce an adventure to taste which he let me do after each dish was plated. Have you ever had an alfredo sauce spiced with curry? It was fantastic with just the right amount of curry kick to it. There seemed to be so many different sauces that I casually mentioned that an interesting menu item might be a sampler that featured three or four different sauces in smaller servings of pasta. He seemed to think the idea was interesting and I really hope he finds a way to make that work. I'll be ordering that for sure next time I am there for dinner. I also got to watch him prepare his Montreal seasoning New York strip steak with a bourbon sauce which I had savored in there a few weeks back. I'm not sure I could duplicate that at home yet but I'll be working on it for sure. Unfortunately, no one ordered my favorite appetizer, the crab soup. I really hoped I would get a chance to watch him create that. This soup is light and perfectly "crabby". It's not as rich as a she-crab soup and its lightness lets the flavor of the generous amount of crab dominate. So thanks to Chef Frederick Heller and to his most excellent staff for their hospitality. Frederick's was already my favorite downtown restaurant so maybe I'm a bit biased but you really should try it if you haven't yet. By the way, on the first and third Fridays of each month you can hear the most excellent music of Jon Bachman in the dining room. If you like the First Friday art show openings, Frederick's is a just a couple of doors down from Apple Music and a great dinner stop after you've had all the fun you can stand looking at the art. Oh, did I mention the wasabi crusted seared tuna? ( 1 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

The Washington Nationals... - Apr. 17, 2007 7:36 pm - Show/hide this post ...took the field tonight at RFK against the Atlanta Braves and they were all wearing Virginia Tech ball caps. Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!  ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

North bound traffic on Route 1... - Apr. 4, 2007 12:51 pm - Show/hide this post ...was absurd this morning. It was apparently 95 bail out traffic due to a truck fire on the interstate up near the Stafford airport exit. Anybody get caught in that? I suppose there's nothing that can be done to stop the bail out vehicles from bogging everything down here in town but maybe, just maybe, the city PD and the Stafford County sheriff's office could get together and cooperate on some human traffic control and override the signals at the Falmouth light to move the traffic through that traffic version of Death Valley. After all, people are smarter than machines such as traffic lights, are they not?   ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

They're baaaack! - Apr. 3, 2007 11:26 am - Show/hide this post Well, crab fishing fans, tonight’s the night. “Deadliest Catch” returns on the Discovery Channel for a thrilling third season of numbingly repetitive film snippets of unshaven men in the early stages of hypothermia hauling 800 pound crab pots over the side of a boat that seems destined to be swamped by a rogue wave. This interspersed with simulated radar screen images, narrated by that “Dirty Jobs” guy, Mike Rowe has combined to yield a strangely fascinating series on the Discovery Channel that has snagged me, at least, as a fan for absolutely no apparent reason. I have no idea why I like this show. I cannot point to a single thing other than having served in the Navy and having put in a little time on rough water in a small ship that should grab my attention as this show has. Oh and by the way, the one question I have never heard them answer about crab fishing is what an opelio crab is. There is a separate season for this crab variety and according to one source I found on line at http://www.wordsandpicturesmag.com/CrabFishing.html  “Snow crab are also known as “tanner” or “opelio” crab. Opelio crab are the smallest variety, with an average weight of 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. Tanner crab are larger, weighing 2 or 3 pounds when mature. Both of these varieties of snow crab lack the spines which cover king crab. King crab are the crab that Alaska is famous for. I have seen king crab as large as 18 pounds, and with a leg-span of more than 6 feet!” ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Robo-Chalker - Mar. 15, 2007 1:38 pm - Show/hide this post The more I think about this "Robo-chalker" that the City wants to put on the street to handle parking enforcement the less I like it. It's just my opinion but are the parking problems downtown so serious, so threatening to the public welfare that we need to spend $100,000 on a machine to cruise city streets looking for parking scofflaws. That thing is going to have to generate an awful lot of new citations for parking violations to justify its cost. It has to exceed the number of citations already issued by our two parking enforcement guys to generate some serious buckage.  I'm downtown a lot and parking isn't always easy but it's not all that hard really either. A couple of  times around the block will usually turn up a place within a reasonable distance of my destination. I would rather give a little more effort to the process and maybe get a couple of blocks more exercise walking from my car to my destination than give Big Brother a motorized presence on our streets. If the City Council wants to do something to make downtown a more popular and pleasant place, do something about the loud motorcycles and cars. Robo-chalker is an easier step to take though and spending your tax money is pretty much painless for them I guess. Robo-Chalker might be a good thing to remember when election time comes around. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

I like to think it could happen! - Mar. 4, 2007 10:18 am - Show/hide this post Several weeks after seeing previews of “The Astronaut Farmer” with Billy Bob Thornton I finally got to see the movie last night and I just have this to offer. Movie critics be damned! What a fun movie that was. The critics have been tearing it up, calling it improbable and far-fetched. It’s a story of a Texas rancher who, after having had to drop out of the NASA astronaut training program, determines to build his own rocket in his barn on a Texas ranch and launch himself into earth orbit and then return safely.    Now if a critic wants to go after a movie technically or artistically that’s fine. Those are good enough reasons I suppose. But it’s a movie for crying out loud!  Reminds me of the uproar about “The DaVinci Code” which will be found in the FICTION section of any bookstore that stocks it.  I’ll bet that not a word was written about Star Wars being far fetched and unrealistic and I’m pretty sure that the Harry Potter movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy escaped that accusation as well. I did feel that Billy Bob Thornton’s characterization came up a little short of the kind of heroic sort I would have preferred to see. Moments that might have had the audience cheering just didn’t quite make it. I did notice that a lot of the people stayed until the bitter end of the credits trying, I think, to get that last sweet detail of emotion from the material that ran behind the scrolling print on the screen.   Word Of Warning from the previews: There’s yet another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie looming ominously on the horizon later this year.  ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Grin and bear it! - Feb. 22, 2007 11:34 am - Show/hide this post It's a bear's foot...thank heavens they have identified it! The mystery has been solved before those dweebs on Mythbusters zeroed in on our big doins here. If you're traveling in the next few days or weeks and you live in Spotsylvania County , you might want to avoid mentioning where you are from. Now that the great foot mystery has been solved one might expect things to calm down a bit but a check on Google this AM yielded nearly 100 hits on sites mentioning "landfill, foot and Virginia" from places as far away as California and Washington State. There are even some people in Arkansas and Utah who know about it. I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would go to Arkansas unless they were being extradited there from Virginia but there may be some skiers headed out towards Salt Lake City. After the "human/not human", "ape/not ape", "Bigfoot/what have you been smoking" controversies have been discussed in so many towns which never get to enjoy events this exciting we must have a pretty high profile in our search for fame. OK, maybe not so much but we at least have our foot in the door. (Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know that sucked...so sue me...it will be tossed out of court...you won't have a leg to stand on.) As you bask in the glory of notoriety in your travels remember that this kind of glory can be a two edged sword. This means that we are also associated with a group  the wing nuts who believe that Big Foot lives in Virginia. Nobody I know has ever publicly claimed to have seen Sasquatch waiting in a slug line or in a line at Carl's but I have seen a couple of guys on Redskins broadcasts that might have been related. My first thought after seeing that lovely picture run here and in the paper was that it might be that hairy caveman guy from that insurance commercial. My favorite comment on this whole fiasco was from Laura Moyer last week during the snow/ice/wintery mix event. I won't quote her here but you can see that on her blog. Scroll down a bit, it's there under the title "Snow and Sleet". I'm still trying to track down a rumor about the National Park Service trying to acquire the landfill site and a 5,000 yard visual buffer because of its historical significance. Maybe Fredericksburg area soccer fans will support that effort. Do you think there is any chance that City Council will decide that next year's First Night observance should be the dropping of a bear's foot. Guess it's better than bear droppings....that would be a tough headline to write. "COUNCIL DECIDES ON BEAR DROPPINGS FOR NEW YEARS!"    ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Zooming past the commercials... - Feb. 8, 2007 7:24 am - Show/hide this post ...with the fast forward button on your TIVO or whatever means you use to time shift your boob tube favorites may make you miss some curious moments. My current favorite is the sleep aid with the pistachio colored butterfly or whatever that bug is. First of all I don't get the image...why is a fluttering bug supposed to make me want to buy this product? It's a moth or something isn't it? Moths eat sweaters and scarves and coats...where's the connection between garments with holes and sleep? But the best part is the ever-present warnings about side effects...they may include drowsiness! Holy Sleep Mask, Batman! Excuse me but isn't that the idea behind a sleep aid? And before I forget, on the subject of Super Bowl commercials, what about that Snickers ad with two guys doing a team chew on one candy bar! Gay rights groups are up in arms about it almost like the National Restaurant Association's indignation about this year's installment in the Nationwide Insurance freak parade with Fed-Ex slinging fries for a Happy Meal. Just picture the reaction if there had been a trio of mechanics lip-locking a Three Musketeers. Talk about a "Mr. Goodwrench" moment; we might have witnessed protests from advocacy groups we never even knew existed. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

R Bruce Live! - Jan. 27, 2007 2:18 pm - Show/hide this post The tables are probably sold out tonight at Colonial Tavern for the second of two performances by Fredericksburg comedian and singer, R. Bruce but if you can handle the smoke I think it would be worth your while to hang out in their bar area tonight. Granted that it's humor intended for mature audiences but this is funny funny material he delivers and I can almost guarantee that you will laugh until your sides hurt as we did last night. Do you know why you can't hear it when your dog cuts loose with a "Silent But Deadly"? R Bruce will tell you that and several other earthy facts of life. Check it out if you can get in the door and look for an opportunity to snag a copy of his new CD "Late Bloomer". R Bruce, tonight at the Colonial Tavern ( The old Orbits near the train station) Cover charge is $10 per person. I've paid a lot more for a lot less! ( 2 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

A microslice of time... - Jan. 21, 2007 3:07 pm - Show/hide this post Yesterday evening on The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge near Washington DC. Headed outbound towards the Virginia side of the Potomac River. I had missed the turn for the Kennedy Center where we had tickets for the 7:30 PM performance of Romeo & Juliet by the Kirov Ballet and we were stuck going across the bridge, looking for a place where we could loop around and head back into the city to try again, like a missed approach while landing a plane. It was only a moment, a slice of time with no real significance to every car on the bridge but one. I heard a metallic sound behind my van. For some reason I looked out my rear view mirror and saw a moment of real significance for whoever was in the SUV I saw cartwheeling in the traffic behind me. That's the first time I have ever seen a moment like that as it happened. It's frozen there in my memory...no, it wasn't in slow motion like the moviemakers would have us think. This vehicle was spinning time after time along it's long axis and even bouncing a bit as the side of the car hit the pavement. I'm sure I could hear the sound of it, even the crunching sound of the glass as the windshield and side windows disintegrated with the impact of each contact with the roadway. By the time we had turned and come back inbound on the bridge there were emergency vehicles everywhere. I'm so glad I wasn't behind that vehicle. We surely would have been involved in the wreck just because the spectacle have frozen our vision on what was happening. I can see it now as I write this and I wonder about the people in that SUV. Did anyone just walk away?  ( 2 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

5 stupid minutes - Jan. 16, 2007 2:55 pm - Show/hide this post It was back on January 4th that I finished my last pack of cigarettes. Dealing with kicking the habit was easier this time than in earlier efforts, at least it seemed that way. I'm not anywhere near being out of the woods yet but I'm finding it a little easier to put off the urge to burn one for 5 minutes each time that urge strikes. They say that if you fight it off for 5 minutes the desire to smoke goes away, at least for a while; I think it's true. I just have to remember to fight the good fight for 5 minutes...5 minutes at a time...not a lifetime...just 5 stupid minutes! There was some strong motivation in this effort...a catalyst...but I'll tell you about that later...maybe. ( 2 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

Want some cheese with that whine? - Jan. 4, 2007 11:53 am - Show/hide this post First it's "Burg Boredom" in the MyLine section of Tuesday's paper. This young student grudgingly admits that "there is something of a music scene" but goes on to complain that it's the same old bands. Hey, my young and kvetching friend, try following Emily Gilmore's blog on music. She'll help you find it all. The newspaper that gave you the platform from which to complain is filled with info about music and a lot of other stuff going on around here. Seems to me what you're really saying is that it's not so much the lack of things to do here but that you don't like the stuff that is going on here. You know, Richmond and DC are not that far away... You state that you have no solutions to suggest which tell me that you've probably not given this a great deal of thought other than how to word your complaint. That might lead you down a logic path that starts with the premise that the people with the funds needed to open some club that will please you do not like that sort of entertainment well enough to invest in a venue for it, especially if it's the same sort of train wreck-like noise I heard coming from the big tent in Hurkamp Park on First Night.   As if life weren't miserable enough here in the Burg, today in the Letters section I find that local drivers were mean to a lady  and she has started saving up her money to move out of state...Oh, woe is me! Out of state, huh? I think North Dakota is accepting applications but the other car there would probably pull in behind you at the state line and tailgate you all the way to wherever one goes in North Dakota.  ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

HNY, ya'll - Dec. 29, 2006 12:06 pm - Show/hide this post It's on us yet again...that most special time of the year when we make promises to ourselves and others about turning over a new leaf for yet another year. It's also the time when those promises that are made may outnumber but will certainly not outlive the flood of campaign promises made during last year's the mid-term elections. Wouldn't it be interesting if we could somehow compare the two? Who will be more successful, you with your promise to exercise or Congressman Blatherbutt from Possum Breath, Missouri with his promise to honestly see to the voters interests? I'm betting on you to outlast him. That's right folks...lock up your children and your money because in a few more days a whole bunch of new kids on The Hill will be lining up at the trough to try to earmark your money to fund the construction of a teapot museum back home or to pay for the paving of the road to Lawrence Welk's boyhood home. Makes you giddy with anticipation does it not? ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Has anyone here seen my old friend John? - Nov. 27, 2006 7:33 am - Show/hide this post Yesterday marked 43 years since two college friends and I stood on a sharply cold and clear morning in Washington  , D.C. watching John Kennedy’s funeral procession. We had hitchhiked to DC the day before and dragged ourselves out of bed well before dawn to get downtown early enough to get a good spot where we would be able to see the procession. I wish I could tell you that I was introspective enough at the time to understand what a momentous time that was but that would be a bit of a stretch.  How could we have imagined that within 5 years two more bullets would punctuate the death of a dream some called Camelot?  Perhaps that memory is part of the reason that I couldn’t sit through the last moments of the movie “Bobby” when I went to see it Saturday night. The movie was just too real. The sixties, although I never got arrested or tear gassed or anything, were just too much a part of the fabric of my life. I couldn’t make myself sit through a re-creation of one of those punctuating deaths. I couldn’t watch the dream die again. Returning to Charlottesville that Sunday night we caught a ride with Mutual News radio reporter, Joe Campbell. I'll never forget the comment he kept repeating. "He was just so damn young!" All of them were.   ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Ingleside & The Music - Nov. 13, 2006 12:43 pm - Show/hide this post We took Pete Mealy's suggestion Saturday and on a beautiful fall afternoon drove down to Ingleside Winery, a short 30 mile run down Route 3 to Oak Grove for their fall barrel tasting. Laurie Rose Griffith, Peter Mealy and Kent Ippolito were on the scene to provide the music and the place seemed pretty much at capacity. The wine was excellent and Laurie, Peter & Kent were at their best. I love their music and their style but yesterday they were as good as I have ever seen them. If you don't have either of their CD's, "Tocoi Light" or "Something Good" you really should watch the Local Events Calendar on www.rivervoices.net and make it out to their next gig to get both these excellent CD's. See their web site for excerpts from each. If you missed this great day, keep your eyes open for next year. Pete said they have been doing this event for nearly ten years. It's worth the trip and worth the $10 admission. With the food, the wine and the music by three of Fredericksburg's finest musicians,  it was a bargain, perhaps even at twice the price. ( 2 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

This just in! - Oct. 31, 2006 8:18 am - Show/hide this post You might want to call all those who are near and dear to you because I'm sure this will make their day. A headline story today from multiple news sources reports that some scientists have concluded that elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror. Glad they can because they all look alike to me. I can just hear the banter in the pachyderm playpen right now. "John," she says as she pirouettes in front of a floor to ceiling mirror, "Does this grey leather dress make me look fat?" OK, it's a piece of knowledge that may lead to something but what did it cost to find this out and who the hell was willing to pay for the huge mirrors? Did we really need this info? Other than the fact that I had something to blog about, I could probably could have limped through the day in ignorance on the subject. Elephants are intelligent animals, we know that. If these researchers want a challenge, find out if sand dollars recognize themselves in a mirror. At least the mirrors would be cheaper. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Halloween Wines? - Oct. 12, 2006 12:30 pm - Show/hide this post Maybe I'm putting too fine a point on the concept of a newspaper's involvement with the community it serves but yesterday's article on choices of wines that are appropriate for Halloween was seemed inappropriate for what is essentially a holiday occasion for kids. Yeah, I know that adults have Halloween parties too but wine selection as a Halloween food article? Please! Take a look at this linked article from MADD about drunk driving incidents on Halloween.    ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

The John Vreelan Jazz Quartet - Sep. 27, 2006 9:53 am - Show/hide this post If I had a buck for every time I’ve heard people talk about how much they would appreciate a nice piano bar around here I would… well, I would have a pocket full of dollars. Last night I went to Bistro Bethem to hear The John Vreeland Jazz Quartet and folks, it was happening there. I’m here to tell you that this group is the group to follow if you want great jazz in a dinner atmosphere and in the bargain, you could have even heard what your dinner partner was saying. The volume, the quality of the music, the sequencing of the numbers from a light jazzy dining-friendly feel at the beginning to the upbeat energy of the first song after the break and the whole second set , it was all just as I felt it should be. There was even some musical humor thrown in such as when John sneaked a little “Chopsticks” into their rendition of “Up The Lazy River”. I mentioned this event briefly yesterday on The Fredericksblog and had I known what an outstanding experience it was going to be I would have flogged it a lot harder. And to all those people who I told face to face and who still didn’t make it, shame on you, you missed a lot. If you allow this to happen again an entry will be made in your permanent record. Next up for the Jon Vreeland Jazz Quartet is at Chord’s, 8:00 PM on October 6th (First Friday) and they’ll be at Chord’s on First Friday in November and December as well. Unfortunately they don’t have a website so I’ll be at John’s mercy on keeping you informed of their scheduled appearances but I’ll keep digging for the info. You need to see and hear this group. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Makes you proud - Sep. 25, 2006 9:59 am - Show/hide this post If you’re an American, which I assume most who read this are, you’ve probably had the experience of feeling a bit like a piñata when reading any foreign press coverage about this country. It seems sometimes that no matter what we do, we are condemned in foreign press outlets as the source of all evil. The relief missions carried out by our Navy in the wake of the tsunami in southeast Asia are forgotten. The humanitarian aspects of our foreign policy seem to be viewed as bribes for friendship and the rescuers who leave hearth and home for weeks at a time to search for earthquake survivors are intruders viewed with suspicion. How perversely satisfying might it be if we could as a people just walk away since it's not really our problem. We could just send these people in need a message of condolence and our best wishes for a speedy recovery but that’s just not the way we are. Bill Trueman (Thank, Bill) sent me the text of a column from a Rumanian newspaper this morning that should be heartening to those of us who have had this feeling. I was tempted to reprint it here but since I feel that’s bad form for a blogger I’m just going to put a link to it here. Go to this link and read it and if for some reason you can’t get through, the entire text will also be posted on my other blog, The Fredericksblog. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

The Summer Place - Sep. 18, 2006 10:12 am - Show/hide this post Last week I got a call from my sister in Birmingham to let me know that my mother was sick and in the hospital. She had a heart attack and at age 89 was not doing well. This of course triggered the requisite flurry of family phone calls and the job of keeping my two uncles up to date fell to me. Last night, I talked to the uncle who lives in Bedford Virginia, right next door to the old home place AKA The Summer Place. He mentioned that they had finally torn down the old house that I talked about in "Summer Place". That there were mixed emotions at the news would be an understatement. As I thought about the odd timing of that news with my mother's illness the introspective portion of what passes for my brain was working a feverous second shift. The fond memories of summers there bubbled up to the surface but to indulge them totally was just too difficult. Especially so as I faced the prospect that the twig that attached me to the family tree was very close to breaking. The good news I suppose is that I was spared a trip over there for a last look and I did not have to watch the bulldozers. No need to add that memory, is there? ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Where are the good old days? - Sep. 12, 2006 7:30 am - Show/hide this post Dexter Manley, Pat Fisher, Dave Butz, Jeff Bostic and of course number 44. Those were the days when Redskin’s football was fun. If they lost by three points, at least the game was fun to watch. Yeah I know, Dexter was a drug addict who got churned out of Oklahoma State,  illiterate , after they had their way with him. Yeah I know that on occasion John Riggins would drink too much and act like a refugee from Animal House. I also knew that when Riggo scored there would be no knee wobbling end zone shenanigans like it was the first time he had ever been there. “Here’s the ball Mr. Referee, let’s get this end zone stuff over with so we can play some more ball and I can flatten some other poor soul like newly laid asphalt”.   There was always Pat Fisher, cruising downfield, just looking for a receiver with the ball so he could launch himself at this unsuspecting target like a bloody cruise missile. There was Jeff Bostic with that impish smile of his in the post game interviews. You knew that, given the right question, something good was going to come from him. There was Dave Butz, walking off the field after the game with his son by his side carrying that bucket sized battle scarred helmet that looked as if he had dragged it to RFK behind his car.   To me those were the Redskin’s glory days. Even if they lost, you came away from the game with some moments that would not fade….something to talk about the next morning besides red zone futility. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Slow down!!! - Sep. 1, 2006 11:42 am - Show/hide this post I just got back from my daily trek to the bank and the post office. Folks, it’s raining hard out there and if you are practicing for some hydroplane competition than keep on operating your car the way the drivers I saw were operating theirs. I saw enough rooster tails that I thought I was in the middle of some urban water ski competition. Slow, the heck down!! Our city storm water runoff system is overloaded and  there are puddles of standing water everywhere.  I do car insurance for a living and it looks as if the body shops should see some windfall profits in the next couple of weeks. I know that we’ll be getting a bunch of claims calls here by later this afternoon. “It wasn’t my fault, it was the water on the road.”, is the story I’ll hear. Yes, actually it is your fault because all you have to do to keep from hydroplaning through an intersection is slow down. You’re just not in that big a hurry. You’ll save a few minutes at best. What are you going to do with those minutes, write a novel? ( 1 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

Demolition - Aug. 31, 2006 12:25 pm - Show/hide this post Since my daily errands take me by the site, I’ve been following the demolition of the old James Monroe High School building closely. I was tempted to use that process as a focus for a series of postings with photographs on one of my other blogs, The Fredericksblog but I had an uneasy feeling about doing that. After some reflection on why I was uncomfortable about it, it finally dawned on me that there are those among you who have fond memories of your days at Jayem. I know that watching my high school being torn down would bother me greatly. High school is where we are when we experience the transition from childhood to being an adult and that’s a pretty big memory. The issue became more clear to me last weekend when, on a whim, I searched on line for the web site for the USS Atakapa (ATF-149), the ship I served on in the Navy. I found the following thoughts that I published there a few years ago after a day trip on board the aircraft carrier, the USS Harry Truman.  “I was a radioman on the Atakapa from 1969 through 1970. While I was on board we made one extended deployment to the North Atlantic with a fistful of CT's underfoot doing work similar to that done by the USS Pueblo. The ship had made one or two deployments pior to that in the same mode under the command of LCDR John Culliper. My ride to the North Atlantic was the last one for her in that "mode". Upon our return to CONUS in the fall of 1969 we reverted to conventional fleet tug duties including towing and providing services (towing surface gunnery targets for ORI/REFTRA) out of Guantanamo Bay Cuba. The weekend of  9/30/2000 I was fortunate enough to be invited on a dependent's cruise on the USS Harry S Truman (CV-75). We were at the home of my friend’s son who was a pilot. He  flew F-18's off the Truman. Tommy saw my reproduction ATF-149 ball cap, did a bit of a double take and asked me the name of the ship. I told him and his face flushed a bit. He went on to tell me that the Truman had used the Atakapa as a target off Puerto Rico in July of 2000 and that he personally had fired a missile into her. He showed me where on the ship’s outline but said he had hit her portside not starboard. I thanked him for the info and told him that he had hit her right where I used to work...the radio room. I was amazed by the coincidence. The next day the rest of the pilots in the VF 105 Ready Room got a kick out of the story although some of them did look at me as if I were a ghost sent from my ship to haunt them. Later in the day during the noon meal on the Truman’s hangar deck.  I was introduced to the skipper of VF 105, who was also taken by the story. I told him that I had been on two Navy ships in my life and the second one had sunk the first one. To her credit though, Lt (JG) Tom Heck, the F-18 jock who had fired a missile at the chair where I used to sit, told me that it took a hell of a lot of ordnance to sink her, a good deal more than they had expected. I had been trying to locate her for sometime, now I know where she is: 020:40:80 North and 064:05:00 West in 2700 fathoms of water She kept me dry and above water for 6 long months in seas from the Arctic Circle south almost to the Straits of Gibraltar and a lot of memories both good and not so good were made on board. She went to the bottom, still serving, helping these brave young men and women prepare for a 6 month deployment to the Persian Gulf, surely a more noble fate than rusting away in some South American nautical boneyard which is where so many of our auxiliary vessels ended up. I now know the circumstances of her demise; I also know I would not have wanted to witness it. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

What's next? - Aug. 24, 2006 3:59 pm - Show/hide this post Now that Pluto has been expelled from the list of planets, will Rhode Island, in solidarity, attempt to secede from the Union.  ( 2 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

A summer place - Aug. 24, 2006 12:22 pm - Show/hide this post A bit over half a century ago, this was our summer house. Actually it was my grandparent’s house down in Bedford, Virginia where my younger brother and I stayed during my ninth summer. The front porch railings when they were all there, were covered with kudzu vines. The way that weed grows it might have been their weight that pulled the missing railings down. In the gable at the top you see two boarded up windows. The one on the right was the window off what we called the front bedroom. That was where my brother and I would sleep because that was the only one that ever offered any semblance of cross ventilation during the humid Virginia summers. We would get our faces as close to the open window as possible and any tantalizing hint of a breeze was as welcome as a sip of water to a thirsty man. As I recall there was only one fan in the house and 9 year old and 6 year old boys were off the bottom of the list of fan users. We used to sit there at night and listen for the sound of approaching cars, trying to guess whether it was going east or west on Route 221 or as it’s called now Old Forest Road. We lay so close to the screen that we could actually smell it or the dust on it anyway. To this day, if I press close to a window screen, the smell of it reminds me of those simple summer nights when our biggest worry was whether or not we would catch a few seconds of summer breeze.  When you pass an old house on the road that looks as if it’s hanging on to existence by the skin of its teeth, be kind and remember that it had happier days that someone someplace remembers. There are more things to tell you about our summer house but I’ll hold them for later perhaps. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

The River - Aug. 21, 2006 2:09 pm - Show/hide this post At her infant headwaters in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains she is young; she laughs and chortles like a scurry-crawling newborn baby as she rushes over and through the rocks of Chester Gap in Fauquier County. By the time she reaches the fall line, the Falmouth white water and then Fredericksburg she seems to laugh out loud, passing us by on her journey to Portabago Bay and thence to a final confluence with the Chesapeake Bay. Just below the Falmouth bridge though she settles down to a mature and soft spoken adulthood. Ultimately the Chesapeake will subsume her flow as it did the mighty Potomac and these two matrons of old Virginia will blend all they bring with the Chesapeake's outflow to the Atlantic Ocean. Surely she knows her fate; in another 80 miles she will reach Saluda as a susurrant old woman, content to murmur  memories to herself, memories and wisdom gathered on her ambling journey between these history filled banks, preserving her quiet tales of years past, as whispered as a secret shared with those who still listen to the Elders. Mostly though, she just talks to herself as the Elders often must do.  At Saluda she adds 184 miles of memory and a thousand years of wisdom to the bay. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

It's about the decibels! - Aug. 14, 2006 7:43 am - Show/hide this post On of the words often used to describe music (and I use that word advisedly) is “throbbing”. Spend a few minutes almost any afternoon sitting outside at an outside table at any of our downtown venues and you’ll know that means vibrating metal parts on passing cars that must have sound equipment in the trunk equal to that found at almost any rock concert. Is it your imagination or are those side windows really moving in synch to the base line of the recording? Heck, just look at the driver of the car…the sound is so loud it has somehow turned their ball caps around 45 degrees. Sometimes you can even make out the profanity in some of the cuts, words that sound as if they were recorded in a military barracks. If a person stood on a street corner with a megaphone and spewed that kind of profanity they would be shut down by the police in short order but put that same person in a car and they are somehow immune. All will be well shortly though because shortly you won’t hear that music at all. Either you will have gone deaf or the straight piped Harley’s will come through and treat you to their wrist twisting, ear splitting “look at me, I’ve got a Harley” antics. If you or I drove our 4 wheeled vehicle up Princess Anne Street or down Caroline Street making that kind of noise, we would most likely be up close and personal with the police in short order. Basta! No mas! Enough! We have a noise ordinance in the Burg. Why won’t the police make even a token effort to enforce it?   I’ve asked you that question; now, you should ask your city council representative the same thing. Who’s going to enjoy a well planned and ecologically focused river front if it sounds like pit row at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway?  Can you conceive of this kind of mess going on in Old Town Alexandria? Where are the downtown merchants in all this? Maybe they have spoken up and it’s just that no one can hear them. ( 4 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

That's 39 but who's counting! - Aug. 11, 2006 6:34 am - Show/hide this post Some of my favorite sources of things to talk about in a blog posting are the surpassingly odd aspects of life today that are thrust into the limelight via the wacky filler items you can find on many of the major on line news sites like CNN and indeed dear old www.Fredericksburg.com . For example this headline from CNN.com fairly begs further examination: “Jumping sturgeon whacks jet-skier” Maybe I read articles like that for the same reason I’ll pause on the Jerry Springer show when I’m channel surfing but I really want to see the fish that can take out a guy on a jet ski. It’s probably not what anyone would call a major news site but in her blog posting today on Blue Ridge Blog, Marie Freeman talks about the new school year in Watauga County North Carolina and says there is a new rule at Watauga County High School limiting students to 39 bathroom trips per semester. She predicts they’ll give up on that within two weeks. I give it one week: one day to realize the impracticality of it and four days to figure out how to back off the idea without formally admitting what a knot headed idea it was to begin with. Who will keep track of how often the kids go? Will there be potty monitors with clip boards in the hall? Maybe they will print and distribute 39 bathroom passes to each student, thus creating an active black market for them and when that gets going can the counterfeit potty pass be far behind? Will there be a roll over provision for unused passes from one semester to another like unused cell phone minutes? Who in the school administration came up with this idea and then had the nerve to propose it in front of the other school officials? Even though Boone is way out in the mountains of western North Carolina, I’m surprised we didn’t hear the hoots and howls of laughter all the way up here. Of course there could be a perfectly logical explanation for how this came to be; it could be a little known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act. Nah, that’s too far out even for the Feds, right? Right? ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

The man behind the curtain - Aug. 8, 2006 10:38 am - Show/hide this post Most mornings I stop off at Hyperion for coffee on my way to work. As I drive up Princess Anne Street from Route 1, I see pretty much the same scenes every day. Someone is always coming out of or going into the 2400 Diner and at Little Tire they have the first couple of cars up on the lifts while one of the guys is usually outside with a clipboard talking to the next customer about whatever repair is needed.   A bit farther up the street several people looking for day work are waiting outside Labor Finders and then there are the two little kids who live next door running around the side walk on their Big Wheels. There's a young lady who walks her dog about the time I am going by.   And then there are the homeless or nearly so, at least that's what I am presuming. They appear to be starting a daily routine of heading towards downtown as well. There is one man whose stolid face seems not even to register his surroundings and I know he will shortly round the corner from Princess Anne onto William Street and with a practiced glance check the ash trays and plastic bucket outside the Hyperion entrance for discarded smokes. Sometimes he finds one and sometimes a sidewalk samaritan will hold out one or two or three cigarettes to him as he walks by their table. He'll reach out and take the proffered gift without breaking stride and with the slightest of nods to acknowledge the giver.   One of the things that puzzles me about this man and his compatriots is their faces. They always seem expressionless, masked and I wonder if there is any hope behind those masks they wear and if there is, hope for what. Is it for a quickly found cigarette, a meal, a little relief from the heat, a different life, what?   Hope has to be there somewhere doesn't it? After all they are human beings and that's one of the things that sets us aside from other creatures. I keep telling myself that at least they have that; they have hope.   They do, don't they? ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

The bridge on the river - Aug. 7, 2006 2:34 pm - Show/hide this post Many bridges, the major ones that is, seem to be named for something or someone. Not so the Rappahannock River bridge on I-95 and so now come we Fburgians to the bridge naming fray. Some bridges absolutely need a name I suppose; imagine giving directions in New York City or Washington without bridge names. Some get names as a matter of convenience for the local folk. We have a couple of those here. Then of course there was the former "Bridge to Nowhere" which name, thankfully has been retired since it now actually does what a bridge is supposed to do - connect to something on both sides. But the bridge over the Rappahannock on I-95 somehow does not seem to need a name; it's not as if traffic north or south bound has any alternatives.   This looming quandary became the focus of conversation Saturday morning at Hyperion. If we were to name it for a location what would we choose? The Falmouth & Chatham bridges were pretty easy because there was something with a recognizable name on at least one side of each. Applying the same conventions to the I-95 bridge leaves us with not much more than The Empty Tree Covered Land Bridge which lacks panache I think.   Another possibility for names is to name the bridge for a person. If you were privy to any of the road names submitted when both Stafford and Spotsylvania counties were preparing for enhanced 911 service you immediately realize that sufficiently robust political connections could leave us with a bridge called "Uncle Willie's Bridge" or something of that ilk.   It is conceivable that the rush hour backups at Route 3 could continue to grow. Then we could simply raise the height of the side rail to about 20 feet to keep cars out of the river and call it the Route 3 Off Ramp Bridge.   As we discussed this on Saturday morning we landed more or less inevitably on the conclusion that a historical reference would be most appropriate. The problem with this is that the list of choices is too long. In a few moments almost anyone who has any familiarity with the Civil War could name at least twenty historical figures and another half dozen place names for consideration. Something historical and generic would work much better and one name that came up was The Fuggedaboudid Bridge". Good, we thought but it leaves too many opportunities for some really stunningly unfortunate spelling errors on the signage.    It seems to me that we can cover the Civil War history of the area and even add a whimsical and folksy touch if we launch a vigorous campaign with the powers that be in Richmond to officially call it "The Get Over It Bridge". Think about it…after all it is about time we accepted the facts and turned to other concerns, is it not? ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Are we there yet? - Aug. 2, 2006 7:40 am - Show/hide this post Does anyone remember Fizzies? They were a cross between a Necco wafer and an Alka-Seltzer tablet. They came in several flavors and the idea was that you dropped them into cold water and voila, instant soft drink. I was reminded of them the one night last week when a big Ford Excavation or something like that passed me on the interstate. Glancing at the side windows,  could see the glow of not one but two DVD screens strapped to the back of the front seat head rests, presumably the travel entertainment for a couple of head setted back seat munchkins while Mom and Dad rode in isolated silence up front, maybe even plugged in to their own individual Ipods. Seeing that glow took me back to the mid 50's when my family moved from Virginia to Texas. As with most family moves it was summertime. We had an almost new1955 Desoto that must have been nearly the same weight as a small naval vessel. The car was a two tone green behemoth with bench seats front and back that were large enough to seat all 5 of us comfortably. Other than where our little delinquent butts were planted, every nook and cranny was filled with the stuff a family of 5 needs to endure a 4 day car trip. What it did not have though was air conditioning. Driving south as we were, the daytime temps were pretty miserable and as with any family of three kids stuck in the back of a car for the day, behavior was a daily issue. Since even back then cattle prods and spiked paddles were not acceptable tools for behavior modification my mother used a carrot instead of a stick. We were rewarded for being good with a treat of a Fizzie every couple of hours.  She kept a fat thermos jug of ice water on the floor of the front seat. It too was two tone in color, cream and hospital green if memory serves. This was before the days of spouts on jugs like that so she had to lift the jug into her lap and pour each cup of water out of the top. The cups of water were handed back to us and we got to open the little envelope and drop the Fizzies in ourselves. That part of the evolution was good for about 15 seconds worth of amusement. My brother and I would hold the cups very close to our faces so we could feel the spray as they dissolved. Whichever one of us had the cup that finished first would shout out, "I won!" whereupon the loser would immediately look into the winner's cup to verify the results.  I would tell you about the taste but memory has mercifully blotted that from my mind. I do recall though that if we were lucky enough to get one of the regular flavors it did seem like a reward. The root beer Fizzie was a different matter; we were both convinced that Mom was actually punishing us for something we had done or might soon do. So,  I wonder as think about the kids in the back seat of that Ford Excavation. Will they share memories of a long vacation trip and yet another rerun of a Disney movie they have seen so many times they don't even need the soundtrack because they can read the lips of the animated characters? I think I prefer reminiscing about Fizzies, even the root beer. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

The Good Old Days - Aug. 1, 2006 7:52 am - Show/hide this post Now that summer is finally bringing us those special days we love to kvetch about, it seems a good time to ask if anyone remembers the good old days. Those would be the days before some demented meteorologist invented "heat index" and "wind chill". In middle school (or "junior high" as we called it way back then), growing up in Central Texas we didn't even look at the temperature; it was just hot, plain old hot. If we needed an additional misery measure it was in reference to how hard the ground had become. Most of the summer there in Waco (no Waco/Whacko jokes please) Texas the ground was concrete hard. We became very good on our bicycles because to fall off was to court a life changing injury. In high school in upstate New York, 50 miles south of the Canadian border, the"wind chill factor" was still in the developmental stages I suppose because we never talked of that either. Those mornings when we stood waiting for the bus in -32 degree weather, we knew that our research into how fast moving spit would freeze was purely recreational and of no scientific value. Life is different today though. It's a human thing; we bask in the misery of numbers, constantly aware that things really are worse than they seem. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Not to tread on Todd's turf but... - July 27, 2006 12:18 pm - Show/hide this post ...after going to see the Nationals play Tuesday night and watching last night's game on MASN (channel 79 on Cox cable) I realized that when you go to a game you can't see one of the really important details of the game...the spitting. Where in the journey from t-ball to the big leagues do ball players learn the art of spitting? If they have stats on that are they based on distance, accuracy, frequency...what? If there are stats, do the scouts actually keep track them? Before the game batters take BP and a lot of fans seem to like to watch that. Is it the same when they take SP?  Do teams have spitting coaches? I'm watching the Giants right fielder, Randy Winn, last night on TV while he is at the plate. Folks, this guy is a salivary Gatling gun. When I first noticed what he was doing, he was letting one fly between each pitch. Then all of a sudden, he cut loose with four, count them, four closely spaced shots, maybe a half second apart. I was impressed. A word to the wise though, if he is chewing sunflower seeds, it might be best to to not get caught down range. The Giants lost the game in the bottom of the 9th but it wasn't for lack of having major league spitting skills. The other difference between live and televised is that it's not nearly as much fun booing Barry Bonds from home as it is in the company of 30,000 of your closest friends. Yep, your heard it right; there were well over 30,000 people there on a Tuseday night. The team has come a long way (in spite of the Commissioner) since the old days in Montreal when the team had a "Won't Call" window instead of a "Will Call" and the PA announcer had a seating chart in front of him so when he announced the paid attendance he could actually call out the names of the people there.  ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

ESPN is not... - July 25, 2006 7:24 am - Show/hide this post a Myers-Briggs personality type or is it? I used to say that in a joking way, sort of a reactionary, Larry the Cable Guy type line. When guys sit around in the morning over coffee and discuss, even argue about some pro golfer's club selection on the sudden death holes in last weekend's "You Gotta Wear Depends Under Your Knickers" Open at the  Ancient & Royal Golf Club in Bumsmash England I have to wonder if the world hasn't changed in some fundamental and tragic way.  How does this stuff get on TV to begin with? If you can stand it, watch a few minutes of golf on TV. You'll quickly see that it doesn't even need a live TV camera to depict the drama. They could do it with still photographs. If I could stand it I would get a stop watch  and graph the action time of a golf tournament. I'll bet I would find that total to be almost nothing compared to the time the camera spends trying to show a nearly invisible egg size white sphere allegedly flying through the air. If the fact that television covers it isn't sufficiently bizarre for you, consider the people who actually want to see this live and I use the word live cautiously. They pay pretty big bucks for a tournament ticket then shuffle along with rest of the golf herd out to the something-teenth fairway to take up their positions, maybe 100 yards from the tee. There they stand 10 people deep in an undulating mob, perhaps holding a cardboard periscope, to see over the anxious heads between them and the grass where Tiger Woods will walk by in hopes of getting a 15 second glimpse of His Tigerness on his way out to his ball which is probably another 100 yards down the fairway. Be still my heart, this is even better than watching Jello set up. Suddenly we have a context for understanding those people who find curling to be high drama. The topic is rife with opportunities for more comments but I Tivo'd the World Series of  Darts last night and I want to go and watch it to see how the Guiness Stout team captain did in the last round. It's just his second year on the tour but the word is that he is a shoo in to be named to darts Hall of Fame. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be! - July 21, 2006 7:03 am - Show/hide this post That's a line from a graffiti feature I saw several years back, in the Free Lance-Star I think.  If it's true then it's not for lack of trying. One particular focus of nostalgic moments is the reverence people express for some of the cars that they have owned and driven over the years, particularly the junkers. Maybe we cling to the memories of the cars because of the adventures that always seem to creep into the tales we tell of the 1950 Hupmobile that some uncle signed over to us because he thought we (especially the guys I think) should have a project to occupy our hands and presumably what passed for our minds as we stumbled through our teen years. At one time or another, didn't almost all of these "projects" transport us out to "the lake" or "the river" with an illicit six pack and a half dozen of our closest friends, whose names of course we cannot recall now? Maybe they broke down in the rain on prom night and I'll bet that a few of them actually did run out of gas on the way home. I've had a couple like that myself, memory mobiles that is. The particular favorite for me was my 1963 Jeep Wagoneer that I bought to use as a surf fishing vehicle. It would go anywhere or so I thought. Within a week after bringing it home, where it was greeted as if it were a 3 legged dog with mange, I had removed the front bumper and replaced it with a 2" x 12" to which I attached 16 PVC fishing rod holders. With a rod in each piece of PVC I could barely see the road but I was "a surf fisherman" at last. To tell the truth, seeing the road was less of a problem that one might think because with a little nudge to the left of the lane, I could very easily see the yellow lines on the highway through the rust holes in the floorboard. One Memorial Day weekend when the entire family had gathered at Nags Head for the holiday, during a night of martini recipe research, we determined that we all would go fishing out on the beach at the north point of Oregon Inlet. On Sunday morning we all piled into three cars and drove to the inlet parking area. After letting some air out of the tires eleven of us loaded our selves and all our fishing gear into my dune killer and headed for the water. It was quite a sight for the crowd of real (reel?) fishermen on the beach that day. I know we must have looked like "The Real McCoys" or the Clampetts headed into town to buy salt pork and beans. The Jeep was jammed inside, the roof was  threatening to cave in from the coolers full of ice, food, bait and assorted adult discretionary beverages and three people were sitting on the tailgate enjoying the aroma of  the engine exhaust that had not already escaped through the holes in the tail pipe and muffler. What a day that was. We totally dominated the two spot we caught and turned one brother-in -law into a crimson crisp of his former self who was so sun burned that the next day he was walking around like a cross between a steamed lobster and a crouton.  Ah, those were the good  old days unless of course you look at it from the point of view of the aforementioned immolated kinsman. Coming off the beach that afternoon we detected a suspicious noise coming from the right front tire, not unlike the fading echoes of a derailed freight car. Two of the five lug nuts had come loose and were rattling around inside the hubcap. Imagine, if you dare, the fun we would have had changing a tire out on the soft sand of the beaches of the Outer Banks. It just doesn't get any better than dodging a bullet like that I think. ( 3 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

POTUS off his ED meds? - July 18, 2006 10:23 am - Show/hide this post A blogger's dream I thought as I read about the President's not so sotto voce slip of the tongue to PM Tony Blair. Man, can we have some fun with this one. Then I remembered my parting admonition from the Big Kahuna here in this little corner of the blogosphere included a reminder to stay pretty close to the PG-13 spectrum. The first 90% of the things I would have thought of to write (but wouldn't have because that's not my voice) were out of the question from the very start. It did occur to me though to use this headline and wonder how many many of you would assume some meaning for the initials E D other than the intended one...Expletive Deleted. I wish I could draw like Clay Jones because I would have put up a cartoon here of Barbara Bush marching up to her son at the next session of the G8 meeting with a big honkin' bar of Ivory soap in hand to wash his mouth out...a mom's version of a measured response instead of the noo-q-lur option in child rearing...proportionate, nuanced...etc etc. I wonder if "soaping" the President is a crime? If it is would he have pardoned her before leaving office? Or maybe a big graphic in here of a check for $325,000, drawn on the President's personal account and made payable to the FCC. He did sign that bill increasing the fines for using 4 letter words on the air into law didn't he? Speaking of law, thank heavens for the 22nd amendment to the Constitution. Imagine the domestic and international  embarrassment at having to use a 7 second delay machine for his next inaugural address if he could run again. ( 0 comments. ) Be the first to post a comment

Opposite attraction - July 16, 2006 3:57 pm - Show/hide this post This morning as I stood by the microwave, waiting for my leftover coffee to be nuked up to drinking temperature,  my as yet unfocused gaze fell on the magnets on my refrigerator door.  I have a couple that are just clips that hold art work from my grandchildren, one that is a small ceramic turtle and a flat one with the names and phone numbers for all the businesses at Park & Shop directory in print so small as to be unreadable. It is useful though as it does a nice job holding up the cash register generated coupons from Giant I can't bring myself to throw way. They are always for products I never use or brands of products I or my cats don't care for.  The occasional one I can use always seems to have expired before I remember to check them.    I wonder where the American family would be without refrigerator magnets. No way to hang your kids' first art work...you know, the first pages from the coloring books, the ones that turn yellow about ten minutes after they are torn out of the book and proudly handed to mommy or daddy. You have to display them. If you don't you might discourage Junior's creativity, even though the lines on the picture seem to have been seen by your nascent little Picasso as mere random suggestions as to approximately where the purple Crayola should be applied to that picture of a bull frog. There would be no place for the grocery lists or the little appointment reminder cards from your dentist. Where would we put the magnetic business cards with the smiling faces of the dozen or so hopeful realtors who want your listing even though you told them you're not even thinking about selling your home?   Every sole proprietor of a business, every insurance agent, even churches see the front of your refrigerator as a marketing tool. Thank God for magnetism since without it we would miss out on yet another marketing effort. Oh, no! ( 2 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

Take me to your program director...er uh..leader. - July 14, 2006 3:19 pm - Show/hide this post Is there really intelligent life on other planets? If so then where are all the intergalactic aliens some people think are out there in space? I think I have stumbled on theory as to why they are leaving us in peace. Do you remember the 1999 movie “Galaxy Quest”, the one with Tim Allen and Alan Rickman? Space aliens had been monitoring a TV show and took it as real. They came to earth looking for help in defeating the genocidal General Sarris and his armada. What if aliens really are out there and part of their reconnaissanceis to watch our television shows? Assume for a moment that they can monitor both broadcast and cable… Would they come to us for help based on our TV shows? I think not; I think to them we must look like an amusement park run amuck if our television programming is any clue. The Bravo channel gives us revealing shows like “Pet ShowMoms & Dads” in which apparently neurotic dog owners find neurotic handlersto show their neurotic dogs in front of judges who appear to be fairly normal other than being inordinately fascinated with dog teeth. Animal Planet fixates on people who pull on crocodile tails…for fun! TLC convinces previously friendly neighbors to engage in 48 hour marathons in each others homes while slathering walls with paint colors that Sherwin Williams couldn’t give away otherwise. Let’s not overlook the Food Channel and “Food Unwrapped” where these intergalactic innocents can learn more than anyone needs to know about how to fill a Twinkie or ”Iron Chef” for a mano a mano (or should I say chefo a chefo) duel to the death using salmon kidneys as the key ingredient. Leave a comment and let me know what shows you think are demented and bizarre enough to scare aliens off. Don't bother with any Joan & Melissa Rivers pre-award show stuff. Everyone knows those are likely to cause aliens to attack just to protect the universe in case Joan and Missy try to syndicate them. Also, CSPAN coverage of the Senate and House of Representatives is also out of bounds as an answer for all the obvious reasons. ( 1 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

Wednesday was way weird. - July 13, 2006 3:10 pm - Show/hide this post First thing in the morning I got an e-mail from an acquaintance asking me to be removed from the notification list on another blog I write. That's a little hard on the ego but I got over it in a couple of hours. Then about 11 AM I get this e-mail from Portsia Smith (she of the fascinating blog posts) asking me if I would be interested in blogging here. Wow, going from the depths to the mountain tops all in one short day is quite a ride. Sorry, I can't be cool about it; I love this. I've been blogging for a couple of years and have even got a handful of people who look forward to some of the thoughts that dribble out of what's left of my mind on my other blogs. I love doing this and am gratified to be in the company of the other bloggers here on www.fredericksburg.com. The Free Lance-Star's efforts to move forward in this media shows they "get it" and the new face of Fredericksburg.com that premiered today underlines their committment to be a vital and interactive presence here. I'll be focusing mostly on topics having to do with life here in the Burg. We are a fascinating and complex tapestry of a southern community and there is certainly plenty here to write about. As Cousin Minnie Pearl might have said, "Howdy! I'm just so proud to be here" Hmmm...should have had a little price tag hanging off the front of that hat I guess. ( 7 comments. ) VIEW COMMENTS | Post a comment

About Jim Brodhead:

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...and I'm stickin' to it! I'm just an irregular guy in a regular world trying to figure out what's going on here and who is responsible.